Scientists learned to control floating objects using sound 18:21

Swiss scientists from the Federal Polytechnic School of Lausanne, together with colleagues from France, Austria and Kazakhstan, have learned to control floating objects using sound waves. The research was published in the scientific journal magazine Nature Physics (NatPhys).

The team tested the technology on ping-pong balls floating in a laboratory pool.

Sound waves emitted by an array of speakers at each end of the tank guided the balls along a predetermined path, while a second array of microphones “listened” for feedback, called the scattering matrix, as the sound reflected off the moving object.

This scattering matrix, combined with the camera’s position data, allowed the researchers to calculate in real time the optimal driving force of the sound waves to push the ball along its trajectory.

“The method is based on the law of conservation of momentum, which makes it extremely simple and universal, and that is why it is so promising,” the researchers said.

According to experts, the technology works equally well with all types of objects. Using the origami technique, the researchers successfully tested the method on a complex structure such as a paper lotus flower.

After the scientists succeeded in redirecting the ping-pong ball, they conducted additional experiments with both fixed and moving obstacles designed to introduce heterogeneity into the system. Successfully guiding the ball around these scattering objects demonstrated that wave pulse shaping can work well even in dynamic, uncontrolled environments such as the human body.

The authors of the discovery believe that their development will make it possible to accurately deliver drugs to the right places in the body, which are important in treating tumors and other diseases.

Previous scientists learned Targeted release of drugs from nanocapsules in the body using ultrasound.